Article November 18, 1967 Issue

Signs of the Times

with contributions from Arnold J. Walker

From an editorial [©1966 Christian Century Foundation. Reprinted by permission from the December 28, 1966, issue of The Christian Century, Chicago.]

We admit unabashedly that patriotism has its merit, and we acknowledge that love of country, however perilous it may be in international affairs, has in most of us a rootage so pristine that it makes the merit of patriotism undebatable.... In saying this, we are being neither academic nor defensive but confessional. We know the thrill that runs up and down the spine when the flag unfurls and the band strikes up the unsingable national anthem....

Nationalism, of course, is an anachronism—a luxury this shrinking world can no longer afford. But nationalism remains, multiplies in fact; and it will remain, will increase until the love of country evolves—as love of family, tribe and province did before the days of love of country— into a larger allegiance. This process does not require the death of patriotism. It demands rather that the love of kin and kind widen its scope and extend its embrace as it learns that one love and one loyalty can serve both family and tribe, nation and world.

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The 1967 Biennial College Meeting
November 18, 1967
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